Due to centuries of deforestation and habitat fragmentation, the temperate forest is the most fragmented biome on earth, with a quarter of forest cover existing with 30 meters of non-forest land cover. Proximity to an edge is known to drastically change forest microclimate conditions, with increased light intensity, humidity, and temperature fluctuations at edges compared to the interior. Though it is well established that these altered microclimate conditions change the growth responses of trees, there has been limited work tracking the progression of growth and composition changes in the tree community following edge formation. However, a changing forest community has wide-reaching implications on ecosystem function. For example, declines in oak abundance across the northeastern US are associated with declines in biodiversity as well as altered forest hydrology and carbon cycling. To understand how trees at the edge are responding to this new environment, I measured the weekly growth of 160 canopy trees, in addition to completing an inventory of seedling composition and distribution at the CLIFF site of Harvard Forest. I hypothesize that although limited compositional changes will be seen in the years immediately following edge creation, growth trends will show immediate advantage towards drought-tolerant canopy species like red oak (Quercus rubra) as opposed to more drought-sensitive species like red maple (Acer rubrum). However, the seedling layer is expected to show an inverse trend, with the ratio of maples being higher across the edge environment than oaks. Additionally, results from statistical analysis of field measurements are expected to show a general increased basal area increment (BAI) across species in edge trees. Though it is difficult to expand a snapshot of growing trends and understory composition to predict changes across an entire forest, these results will provide insight into how deciduous trees are responding to edge environments and which species are more edge-philic than others.